Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 18

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

*Tai's story*

"M-my name?" Stutters out Tai as she looks at the stranger in front of her, who she knows she at least owes her name.
"Yes, your name. What is it?" Asks the patient man.
She swallows some air, gulping as she looks away from the stranger, who sighs with a tone of frustration at the prolonging of an answer. As they stand in each others presence, an aura of uncomfortable tension begins to permeate the air, rising like the developing edifices of Ancient Rome. After several minutes, Tai begins to open her mouth, but the stranger sigh's and turns around.

A bit surprised by this sudden action, Tai moves forward "W-wait " Stutters out Tai as her shyness envelops her along with her natural fear and hatred of men.
The stranger turns around, with his eyebrows raised and replies "What?"
Tai swallows some air before saying "Tai...my name is Tai...."
The man smirks a little, holding out his hand and replying "Jake, Jake Furgo"
She hesitates a bit as the hand reaches out, almost bringing her arms up in defense as if he was to strike her, but she manages to control this and stops it from becoming apparent.

She puts forth her hand, shaking his hand slowly "N...nice to meet you..." stuttering a bit out of her uneasiness towards men in general.
Jake smiles, trying to seem less hostile to Tai, but she only looks to her left as they stop shaking hands and return to the spots on which they stood previously.
"So, what's the plan now?" Questions Jake as he turns to his right and slowly walks a bit.
This question of sorts, surprises Tai, who had no plans on joining up with him and exploring the entirety of the complex with a person who she admittedly didn't trust. Subsequently, judging from the countenance of Tai's face, Jake dissects what she's feeling and is a bit disappointed.

"Well-" Begins Tai, but she is quickly interrupted by Jake, who asserts "You weren't thinking of going through this hell hole alone, were you?"
This spot on response to her intentions, sort of surprises Tai as she listens to it throughly and responds "I can do fine on my own..." in which, she brush's against Jake's shoulder as she strides towards the door.
But before she can even reach for the door handle, Jake grabs her left shoulder with his right hand and says "Don't you get it? We are in a living nightmare " Warns Jake in a high, bordering a yell, voice.

This sudden act of physical touch, causes Tai's heart to race, and her mind to go unstable, resulting in a heavy slap across Jake's face as she screams "DON'T TOUCH ME " In which he recoils back, cursing slightly at the force of the Slap.
She raises her lead pipe and grips it in both hands tightly as she glares at Jake with her eyes seething with anger. Jake chooses his actions carefully, slowly rubbing the spot on which she slapped him and not moving an inch towards her. This continues for several minutes before Tai turns around and quickly dashes through the door and out into the accompanying hallway, leaving a still Jake in her wake.

As she swiftly moves throughout the still hallway, her breaths of frustration are the only sounds echoing throughout the building. With her latest altercation strictly her only focus, she fails to notice the empty chairs and desks. She goes through another door and into the hallway next to the stage. Once in there, she turns to her right and tries to open the door to the Curtain Control room. She luckily, yet strangely finds it unlocked and proceeds to walk right into the room. Inside, the room's lights have already been turned on, which ease's Tai's sight and allows her to look for anything of interest. On top of the control panel, she sees a note and grabs it.

"May 6th, 2000: Personal log of The Janitor

Today was sort of odd. While I was cleaning the hallways near the Dressing Rooms, I could swear I heard those siblings, *Words have faded* and *Words have faded*, arguing with each other, with the youngest seemingly winning the argument. It sounded brutal, the oldest trying to set down her foot, only to be slapped aside like a peasant by her younger sister. I saw them both come out, the younger stomping like a rhino and the older, very timidly. When I walked past them, I could swear the older sibling glared at me with an evil eye of sorts. Whatever she did, I haven't felt that good ever since, like someone is watching me...

Until Tomorrow
Jason Guantillie "

Another journal log from The Janitor's book. She wonder's what she'll discover at the end of the logbook. Will it be just another casual document, or perhaps it'll reveal some sort of shocking twist? Whatever the case, she'll have to continue on, even if she doesn't find an ending for that interesting story. She decides to get out of the poorly maintained control room, for the dust has already begun to agitate her nose and soon enough, she'll sneeze hysterically. She goes through the exit door to the stage, closing the door behind her and turning on her flashlight as she enters the sight hindering, ever consuming darkness of the auditorium.

Inside, her flashlight barely affects the illumination of the room, only opening a small, circular hole for her eyesight. She walks slowly across the wooden stage, making sure she does not tread off the stage and onto the carpeted floor beneath her. She walks across the earth-colored stage, her feet touching one plank at a time. As she becomes correctly positioned in the middle of the stage, she looks to her right and sees scenery for The Swan Princess. She smiles at seeing the scenery, having always loved this romantic, yet sad play. But, as she sees the plastic swans, her mind starts to flash, going through various memories of the past, hurting her head as they whirl around her head, like a tornado of the mind.

Then, from out of nowhere, come the voices of strangers. Arguing like children, their tones different from each other. One's is small, yet full of malice. Yet, the other's is stronger, yet infused with a mixture of sadness and fear. They continue to yell profusely, confusing Tai and causing her to grab her head in pain and stumble across the stage as they echo throughout her head, like a rock inside a deserted school hallway. Suddenly, distracted from the voices, she fails to notice the end of the stage behind her. She stumbles one last time, her head clearing just as she begins to fall. Time seems to slow down, her heart beat becoming the only sound as she slowly descends. She prepares herself for the incoming pain, hoping to not hurt her head too badly, but a dark hand shoots forth and grabs her vest, hauling her back onto the stage and out of danger.

Once back onto the stage, she collapses onto her knee's and trembles as she regains her sanity. As she regains her composure, she begins to hear the words of a man, asking if she's okay. She looks up to her right and sees Jake, wearing a slightly concerned, yet serious look on his face as he repeats his question to her.
She shakes her head a couple of times and replies "Y-yeah....I'm okay..." trembling a bit as she responds.
Jake's not convinced though, he set's both of his hands onto her shoulders and lightly moves his hand in front of her eyes, saying "look at my hand, follow it"
She follows his instruction and follows his hand, In which he becomes less worried and as a result, removes his hands from her, apologizing for his sudden act of physical touching.

After a few moments of her kneeling onto the floor and Jake occasionally looking at her, making sure she's all right, she finally regains her composure and begins to stand up, no aid being offered from Jake, who didn't even hesitate because of his previous experience with her. Once on her feet, she rubs the temples of her forehead because of the headache, which resulted as an aftereffect of the strange experience. They look at each other, not talking for a bit, until Jake decides to break the silence and say "So, what the hell just happened with you?"